Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/05/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From a review of Bosworth's biography by Elsa Dorfman: The book abounds in what I suspect is improvisation, hearsay and undocumented speculation. The standards of language and accuracy (let alone interpretation) are very low. Bosworth keeps on reminding us that Arbus was only interested in the aberration, off-beat sexual practices, tortured sexual identities, and physical and mental deformities of her subjects. She suggests that Arbus was purposely exploitative and sensationalistic. Ironically, this is precisely Bosworth's own approach to her subject. She is obsessed with real and imagined aberration, speculates about what she considers offbeat sexual practices, imagines tortured sexual conflicts...Diane Arbus eludes Bosworth completely. The interesting questions are left unasked, let alone, unanswered: How did this woman, brought up in the most constricting, conventional environment, come to have such a unique personal vision in which style and subject-matter were perfectly matched? How did she produce so much valuable work in just eleven years? Why was she so insecure and uncomfortable with her talent? Was her insecurity and lack of self-esteem (as reported, I suspect accurately, by Studs Terkel) related to her narrow, ungenerous vision? Was she afraid of her own success? And finally, why did she, like Sylvia Plath before her in 1963, end her life? On May 17, 2009, at 5:43 PM, Charcot wrote: > Robert - if you come up with the discredited parts or Bosworth let > us know. I read it and assume that it's true so anything you come > up with I'd be interested. > > ernie nitka > On May 17, 2009, at 3:13 PM, <photo.forrest at earthlink.net> wrote: > >> That's what I was going to say, why does it really matter what >> cameras she used? Contax, Nikon, Leica, Mamiya, whatever. She's >> Diane Arbus and her images are some of the most beautiful ever >> made. She could have used a Diana & they would have been just as >> powerful. Its just a box with a hole on one side and a recording >> medium on the other. >> Phil Forrest >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> >> From: Michiel Fokkema <michiel.fokkema at wanadoo.nl> >> Subj: Re: [Leica] Arbus revisited >> Date: Sun 17 May 2009 4:59 pm >> Size: 1K >> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> >> >> Who cares? Why a keypoint? >> It's the image that counts. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Michiel Fokkema >> >> Robert Meier wrote: >>> I think Bosworth's biography has been discredited on many key >>> points, >>> but I don't know the details. Needless to say, whether she used >>> a Leica >>> or not would be a very key point. >>> >>> >>> On May 17, 2009, at 2:21 PM, Tina Manley wrote: >>> >>>> At 03:00 PM 5/17/2009, you wrote: >>>>> Found this on photo net: >>>>> " >>>>> Diane Arbus never used a Leica for her work. >>>>> The guy gives off the air of knowing what he's talking about. >>>>> I mean when you get that specific.... >>>>> >>>>> Mark William Rabiner >>>> >>>> From her biography by Patricia Bosworth: >>>> >>>> page 108 ?hated the big 8 x 10 camera; she preferred the Leica. >>>> page 124 ?anyway-she always had a camera, usually a Leica, in? >>>> page 127 She would still record the sessions with her Leica for? >>>> page 195 ? Leica for years, but in 1962 she changed to a Rolleif? >>>> page 231 ?cameras. She still missed the lightness of her Leica,? >>>> page 246 ... D I A N E A R B U S novative work with a Leica >>>> (that sm? >>>> >>>> Searched on Amazon. >>>> >>>> Tina >>>> >>>> Tina Manley >>>> www.tinamanley.com >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Leica Users Group. >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more >>>> information >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> ---- >>> >>> >>> No virus found in this incoming message. >>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >>> Version: 8.5.329 / Virus Database: 270.12.32/2118 - Release Date: >>> 05/16/09 17:05:00 >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> --- message truncated --- >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information